An Analysis of Satirical-Humorous Poetic Effects of Verbal Irony in Pride and Prejudice

Zhao Hong

According to relevance theory,the preliminary condition for successful conversation is the relevant conversational aim and the participants' cooperative sincerity.In order to achieve the intentional conversational effect,the writer uses different stylistic devices to ostent the reader that the stylistic expression he chooses is most relevant to the context.Based on the ostension,the reader activates the appropriate contextual assumptions so as to infer the optimally relevant implicatures and consequential poetic effects.In the analysis of the prominent stylistic devices employed by Jane Austen in the creation of satirical-humorous effect in Pride and Prejudice,this article proves that such interpretive device not only extends the research level of literary pragmatics,but also reveals the unique charm and aesthetic values of Jane Austen's art of irony.

QIU Jin(Department of Foreign Language,Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences,Yongchuan Chongqing 402160,China);The Semantic Analysis of Humors[J];Journal of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences(Social Sciences Edition);2006-03